Stephanie Pooh And Ranger Too!
by TT's Miscellany
Summary: Just a bit of fluffy fun and hopefully a smile or two.


Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Janet Evanovich and are used here without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.

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**Stephanie Pooh and Ranger Too!**   
By TT

Stephanie hurried into the conference room. She didn't want to be late for her first briefing on this case. It wasn't the biggest she'd helped with, but she wanted to make a good impression on Ranger and the Merry Men.

Settling into one of the seats at the side of the conference table, she looked around and noticed that the Merry Men present were all laughing, or more specifically, trying no to laugh. "What's up, guys?" she asked, scanning the slightly red, smiling faces around her. Just then her eyes caught sight of the pastries in the back of the room.

"Nothing Steph," Tank managed to say, a huge grin on his face.

With a shrug, Stephanie wandered over to the pastries, took a plate and selected a few tasty morsels. She could always bug the guys to tell her later. One of them always caved when she fell into her "Annoying Burg Girl" routine.

Satisfied with her selection, she settled back in her seat only to look up with consternation as the guys started snickering.

Before she could say anything, Ranger stepped into the room and the guys immediately struggled to put on their faces. They obviously didn't succeed too well since, as he set his notebook at the head of the table, Ranger asked, "What's so amusing?"

"Nothing, Boss."

"Nothing."

"Ready to work, Boss."

Were the answers that came back to him. His brown eyes settled on Stephanie who swallowed the bite of pastry in her mouth and shrugged, "Beats me," she admitted. "They were all laughing when I came in."

Nodding his head at her response, he dismissed the issue and began the meeting.

Four days later, Ranger was laying back on his couch, relaxing. The case had been grueling, but fortunately Stephanie's contacts and intuition had led them to the solution faster than they could have hoped. The fact that every one of his men had escaped unscathed was only icing on the cake.

Of course, now that the crisis was past, he needed to figure out what was going on with his men. First they had been laughing at the meeting, and he suspected they were laughing at him. Then, later that day there had been a pink pig figurine on his desk, which seemed really odd. Coupled with the fact there was a yellow bear figurine wearing a red shirt on Stephanie's desk and he knew that whatever the joke was, it involved them both. It had been Stephanie who informed him the figurines were Winnie the Pooh and Piglet from the children's stories.

That was helpful insofar as it helped him identify the character that appeared on his coffee mug, he computer screen and the tune that someone programmed into his phone for Stephanie. How they managed that one, he would like to know. It might come in useful on a job sometime.

Now that he had time to think about it, though, he began to wonder what it was all about. Not that he didn't mind being laughed at, especially if it was all in good fun, but he wanted to be sure that Stephanie was fine with it. The last thing he wanted was for her to be exposed to the hurtful teasing she experienced from others.

Before he could take his thoughts any further, his phone rang. Flipping it open he greeted, "Yo."

"Steph's on her way up," the voice on the other end informed.

"How's she look?"

"Don't know," the other speaker admitted. "She's wearing a ball cap and deliberately avoiding the cameras. She doesn't seem tense or worried, though."

Ranger grunted in acknowledgement and hung up.

Rising from the couch, he went to the door, opened it and waited for Stephanie to arrive. He didn't have long to wait. "Babe," he greeted as she stepped off the elevator.

"Ranger," she returned, with a smile.

Her eyes looked clear and she didn't seem scared or worried, Ranger decided as he ushered her in. He watched as she crossed to the living room, dropped her purse in front of her, removed her cap and sank into the couch.

"Come. Sit," Stephanie commanded, patting the cushion on the couch next to her.

Accepting the invitation, Ranger settled next to his Babe.

She looked up and met his eyes. "I figured it out," she informed.

"What, Babe?" Ranger asked.

"The whole Pooh-Piglet thing," she stated, a triumphant gleam in her eye and a smile on her face.

With a nod of encouragement, Ranger waited to see what she had discovered. He watched as she reached into her purse and pulled out a children's book.

"I was babysitting Angie, Mary-Alice and Lisa last night. They wanted a bed-time story and this was the one they gave me," she informed, showing him the book by A. A. Milne. "So, I was reading to them, when I came across a passage that made all the little pieces of the puzzle click into place."

"Puzzle?" Ranger asked.

"Yeah, you know. Why the guys are saying I'm Pooh and you're Piglet?"

Ranger just nodded.

"Listen," she insisted, opening the book and beginning to read. " ' When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,' said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?' 'What's for breakfast?' said Pooh."

A smile curved Ranger's lips. that did sound like his Babe.

Stephanie caught the smile, but continued reading, " 'What do you say, Piglet?' 'I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?' said piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. 'It's the same thing,' he said.' "

A soft chuckle escaped Ranger as she finished.

"It's not funny," she protested, fighting a smile of her own.

"Actually, it is," Ranger denied. "And scarily accurate, I think," he continued, his chuckle becoming a laugh.

Try as she might to be upset by the comparison, Stephanie couldn't help but agree and join in the laughter.

"Still," Ranger continued after their laughter died down. "We can't let them get away with this, can we?" he asked.

Stephanie's smile turned conspiratorial. "What do you have in mind?" she asked, her smile growing at the mischievous gleam she saw in Ranger's eye.

Two weeks later Stephanie was walking hand in hoof... er.. hand... with Mary-Alice through the crowds at the elementary school fair. The smile that had started when she and Ranger developed their revenge plan had yet to leave her face.

As Stephanie stood watching Mary-Alice try to knock over milk bottles with a baseball, she spotted Ranger headed her way. Her smile broadened and was returned by the man in black.

"How goes the security detail?" she asked, barely holding in her laughter.

"Well enough," he agreed, his smile suddenly becoming wicked. "Apparently one of the shop-lifters we caught objected to being cuffed by Kanga and Roo, though."

Unable to hold it back any longer, Stephanie's laughter spilled out. "I noticed Tigger wasn't looking quite so bouncy earlier," she replied, her grin matching Ranger's. "How'd you find out the instigators?"

Ranger's smile turned mysterious. "I have my ways," was his reply, resulting in Stephanie rolling her eyes.

"Aunt Steph!" Mary-Alice cried, waving her prize in the air. "Look what I won!"

"That's wonderful, sweetie!" she enthused. "What do you want to do now?"

"Can we go watch the people try and dunk Eyore?" she asked.

Blue eyes rose to meet brown. "Sure Mary-Alice," she confirmed. Taking the girl's hand, she leaned over toward Ranger and asked softly, "How's your pitching arm?"

Ranger tipped his head back and laughed.

End.


End file.
